Net collections failing to keep pace with rising wages, posing ‘significant challenges’ for radiology groups
Net collections are failing to keep pace with rising wages, posing “significant challenges” for radiology groups, according to new data from AMGA released Friday.
From 2023 to 2024, the median change in compensation for the category including radiology, anesthesiology and pathology climbed 5.8%. That’s compared to a 4% year-over-year uptick in median net collections across the same three specialties, the organization formerly known as the American Medical Group Association noted.
Radiology wasn’t alone, as overall median compensation across all specialties increased 5.3% while median net collections climbed 4.3%. The findings are based on data from 459 medical groups representing over 189,000 providers across 197 specialties.
“Net collections not keeping pace with necessary compensation growth is a significant challenge for the majority of groups in the country,” Fred Horton, president of AMGA Consulting, which administers the survey, said July 12. “This issue, especially related to Medicare payment updates, must be addressed in order for organizations to afford necessary increases in compensation without continually relying on a need for providers to see more patients. If not addressed, many groups will soon be in a very challenging position in relation to work-life balance, burnout and provider satisfaction.”
The radiology/anesthesiology/pathology category saw the largest gains in compensation, AMGA found, at nearly 6%. That’s compared to a 3.6% uptick in primary care, 5.1% among medical specialties, and 5.5% for surgical specialties. Meanwhile, the same categories saw 4.5%, 3.6% and 5.2% increases in net collections, respectively.
Data also show that physicians and other providers are working harder, corresponding with the compensation uptick. Across all medical specialties (excluding hospitalists), work RVUs increased 5.3% from 2023 to 2024. In a rollup of the top three medical specialties, productivity as measured by RVUs leapt 8.9% versus 4.2% in neurology, 7.7% in cardiology, and 11.9% in hematology and medical oncology.
“We are seeing significant productivity increases, which, in essence, drove the compensation increases across specialties,” Horton said.
You can find the full survey results for purchase here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.